The Talk Of The Town - Opening Programme

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And there you have it, how to destroy one of the most important Victorian Circus Variety Theatres in the country and turn it into a 'modern' 1950s Theatre Restaurant without a care for its original structure or design. It's remarkable that anything still survives of the London Hippodrome of 1900 at all, but it does. Climb up above the false ceiling of the modern night club and you will be greeted with the shell of the original Theatre. Here despite the accumulation of fifty years of neglect and the gloomy bare brick walls, there are rows of, now seat-less, raking, large fragments of detailed plasterwork, elegant wooden balustrades, ornamental pillars, and hints of the original paintwork. Many say that the Theatre is beyond restoration; that it has gone too far into dilapidation. But given the will and the funds, Frank Matcham's wonderful Theatre could be restored. The structure of the Auditorium and stage house is intact, and there is enough surviving plasterwork, woodwork, and architectural detail - not to mention the numerous historical pictures of the original that survive to work from - to recreate one of the finest and most important examples of Britain's surviving Theatrical houses. The London Hippodrome is one of only three surviving Theatres in London's Leicester Square, once the hub of London's Theatreland; surviving are The Comedy, The Prince of Wales and The London Hippodrome; gone or irreversibly converted are The Empire Theatre, The Alhambra, The Leicester Square Theatre and Daly's Theatre. Shouldn't we repair the misguided and wanton destruction of the fifties and sixties now that we know better? The London Hippodrome stands perfectly situated in the heart of London's West End, with the future capability to house large scale musicals, yet is about to play host to yet another Night Club. The Hippodrome's future is entirely uncertain, but surely, not beyond hope. M.L. 2004

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